od, a Christian and a Gipsy, has eight brothers and sisters, many
among them have large families, making a total of adults and children of
about fifty of all ages, and there is scarcely one among them who can
tell a letter or read a sentence; in addition to this number they have
between them from 130 to 150 first and second cousins, among whom there
are not more than two who can read or write, and that but very little
indeed, and Mr. Eastwood thinks this proportion will apply to other
Gipsies. Mrs. Trayleer has six brothers and sisters, all Gipsies, and
not one can read or write. A Gipsy woman, whose head-quarters are near
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, has fifteen brothers and sisters, some of whom have
large families. She herself has fifteen sons and daughters alive, some
of whom are married. But of the whole of these brothers and sisters,
nieces, nephews, grandchildren, &c., numbering not less than 100 of all
ages, not more than three or four can read or write, and they who can but
very imperfectly. Mrs. Matthews has a family of seven children, nearly
all grown-up, and not one out of the whole of these can read or write;
thus it will be seen that I shall be under the mark when I state that not
five per cent. of the Gipsies, &c., travelling about the country in tents
and vans can either read or write; and I have not found one Gipsy but
what thinks it would be a good thing if their tents and vans were
registered, and the children compelled to go to school--in fact, many of
them are anxious for such a thing to be brought about. In the case of
the brick-yard and canal-boat children, they were over-worked as well as
ignorant. In the case of the Gipsy children, these children and roadside
arabs, for the want of education, ambition, animation, and push, are
indulging in practices that are fast working their own destruction and
those they are brought into contact with, and a great deal of this may
lay at the door of flattery, twaddle, petting, and fear.

"The plan I would adopt to remedy this sad state of things is to apply
the principles of the Canal Boats Act of 1877 to all movable
habitations--_i.e._, I would have all tents, shows, caravans,
auctioneers' vans, and like places used as dwellings registered and
numbered, and under proper sanitary arrangements and supervision of the
sanitary inspectors and School Board officers in every town and village.
With regard to the education of the children when once the tent or van is
regi